Some Oklahoma death-row inmates to get better accommodations

“The department has decided to relocate all qualifying death row inmates from H Unit to A Unit within 30 days,” DOC interim Director Scott Crow said in a letter to Megan Lambert, an attorney for the ACLU of Oklahoma. “This move will significantly change their access to natural light and view of the outdoors.”

The change was reported Saturday by The Appeal, which publishes original journalism and commentary about criminal justice.

H Unit houses death-row inmates at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. The concrete facility is similar to an underground bunker and was built in 1991. Condemned men are locked in their cells there for up to 24 hours a day, according to the ACLU of Oklahoma.

In his letter, Crow noted that the recreation area in A Unit “has direct sunlight and outside air in a fenced rather than walled environment where conversation among inmates is unrestricted.”

“We also plan to begin contact visitation upon their relocation consistent with A Unit visiting procedures.”

Crow declined a request for an interview but said in the letter that the issue had been a topic of informal discussions in the agency and the corrections community for some time.

The agency declined to explain what it considered “qualifying conditions.”

“As to the qualifying conditions, we are not going to go into those at this time,” said Matt Elliott, a DOC spokesman.

The agency currently houses 46 death-row inmates on H unit, Elliott said.

If inmates adjust well to the new environment in A Unit, they will be considered for jobs and religious services, according to Crow’s letter.

“Group exercise and increased programing opportunities are not planned at this time,” Crow wrote, adding that the agency will consider those privileges in the future.

The changes came after the ACLU sent Crow a letter highly critical of conditions on H Unit, calling them cruel and inhumane and saying it was ready to litigate the matter in federal court.

Lambert said several organizations signed onto the letter listing the problems with housing inmates on H Unit.

Although the move to A Unit is a welcome improvement, she said she is not completely satisfied with the response from Crow and needs some clarification.

“We are hoping to simply negotiate with the DOC,” Lambert said. “It seems that they understand housing death sentence people in solitary confinement is an issue and are working to rectify that,” Lambert said.

Featured video